CNN
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Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has urged his current government to be more lenient with protesters amid ongoing nationwide demonstrations that represent the biggest challenge for the Islamic Republic in decades.
Reformers said the government needed to listen to the protesters before it was too late. Student’s Day marks the anniversary of the 1953 murder of Shah Mohammadreza’s three college students by Iranian police under his Pahlavi regime.
“Rather than thank officials for their existence and deal with them inappropriately, we urge them to take a gentler approach, listen to their views, and enlist their help to improve governance before it’s too late. We encourage you to recognize the wrong side.” Hatami said of the government’s response to the protests.
Anti-government demonstrations began in September after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman. Mahsa Amini died after she was arrested by morality police for not wearing the hijab properly.
Authorities then launched a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, killing at least 448, according to Iranian human rights groups.
CNN cannot independently verify the number of arrests or deaths. Exact figures are impossible to verify except by the Iranian government. Various estimates have been put forward by opposition groups, international rights groups and local journalists.
Hatami said the principles of freedom and security need not be mutually exclusive.
“Just as freedom is an urgent need and a key demand, so is security.”
“Liberty and security should not be allowed to oppose each other, so that liberty is trampled under the pretext of maintaining security or security, which is the condition for establishing order and good order in society. “Ignored in the name of freedom,” Hatami explained.
The former leader also emphasized the importance of “paying attention to the legitimate demands of society.”
Khatami appeared to blame the Iranian government a few weeks ago when he tweeted that the “bitter events” in Iran were caused by “flawed and erroneous governance mechanisms and methods.”
Khatami also called the phrase “zhan (female), zendegi (life), azadi (freedom)” a “beautiful message of movement towards a better future.” The phrase “women, life, freedom” is a chant taken from the Kurdish slogan Zin Ziyan Azadi, which has been repeated throughout the demonstrations as a call for greater freedom for Iranian women.
Other Iranian celebrities have also recently called on the government to listen to the protesters and take action to protect them.
Prominent Iranian Sunni cleric Moravi Abdulhamid Ismaelzahi has called on the country’s judiciary to investigate and prosecute individuals who abuse women in prisons.
Survivors and exiled witnesses tell of the sexual assaults they’ve been subjected to, as a CNN investigation uncovers abuses suffered by female prisoners at Iran’s notorious detention facility.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Ismael Zahi said, “There have been news reports in the media of sexual assaults of female prisoners intended to humiliate, oppress and coerce a confession, and some prisoners report this. We are confirming,” he said.
“If proven, the greatest corrupt people on the planet are the perpetrators of these crimes,” he said, referring to charges made against some protesters who were sentenced to death.
“The judiciary must prosecute these people and punish them severely.”
